Syrian refugee Anas Modaman takes a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel outside a refugee camp near the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees after registration at Berlin's Spandau district, Germany September 10, 2015. A German court will on February 6, 2017 hold its first hearing in the case of a Syrian refugee who is suing Facebook after the social networking site declined to remove all posts linking him to crimes and militant attacks. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Alexander claims Merkel changed her mind after Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière asked police what would happen along the border.

“Can we live with the images that will come out of this?” de Maizière asked a senior police official, according to an excerpt from the book seen by The Sunday Times. “What happens if 500 refugees with children in their arms run towards the border guards?”

De Maizière shared the information with Merkel, who called for the border to remain open just hours before it was scheduled to close.

Alexander said the order was based on the government’s unwillingness to assume responsibility for possible clashes rather than humanitarian and ethical concerns. The book further argues Merkel’s policies created an “anxiety about migration” that fueled the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom and Donald Trump’s run for president of the U.S.

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